Mass Effect: Custodis
by LunaMax1214
Summary: No good deed goes unpunished. This holds true for everyone, but especially for Kaidan Alenko. One such act committed on an average afternoon may hold consequences that will effect the entire galaxy. ME1, A/U. NOT SLASH. Revisions in progress.
1. Chapter 1 Little Girl Lost

**Little Girl Lost**

Sobbing. That's how this whole thing had started.

After his meeting with the Citadel Council, Commander Shepard had opted to split up the shore party in hopes of covering more ground. They needed to find something, _anything _that would prove Saren's treachery, and they needed it _yesterday_. He'd sent Ashley to search Chora's Den for that C-Sec reject, Harkin, and went to the Embassy Lounge himself. That had left Kaidan Alenko holding the short straw, and heading toward the Emporium to question some information broker named Barla Von.

Before he'd even reached the volus' office, the lieutenant had caught a sound at the edge of his awareness. It somehow seemed out of place in the quiet calm of the Presidium. The noise drew him away from the main thoroughfare to an alleyway to the left of his original destination. It wasn't until he'd gone halfway down the narrow passage that he recognized the sound for what it was: Someone was crying.

Unsure of what he'd find, but concerned all the same, Kaidan quickened his pace. Taking a right-hand turn (without even checking his corners first, a fact that escaped him at the time), he came to an abrupt halt at the empty space before him. There was no one there. Confused, he blinked several times as his eyes adjusted to the change in lighting, scanning the apparent dead-end.

_A potted plant in that corner, a stack of crates over there. . .ah. _It was somethingyou'd have missed if you weren't paying close attention. The toe of a tiny black shoe was visible at the corner of the bottom crate. Cautiously, the dark-haired man moved along the wall opposite the crates to get a better look. Tucked back in between the crates and the wall sat a small blue child in a black dress and matching tights. Her little knees were drawn up into her chin and she was crying into her folded arms. She was completely oblivious to his approach until he was less than three feet away. Her head snapped up suddenly, her eyes almost tripling in size. If it were possible for her to become one with the wall behind her, it looked like she would have done just that.

As she tried to scoot farther away, Kaidan stopped moving. The last thing he wanted was to spook this kid any more than she already appeared to be. Without even thinking, he slowly knelt to the floor in an unconscious attempt to get closer to the girl while making himself appear less threatening. It seemed to work. Though her clear blue eyes still followed his every movement, she stopped trying to get away from him.

_'Well, that's a little progress,'_ he thought to himself.

"Hi," he said gently. She simply looked at him, though her widened eyes seem to contract somewhat as he spoke. Taking this as a good sign, he kept talking. "My name's Kaidan. Who are you?"

She remained silent, a look of confusion moving to replace the fear that had covered her face when he'd found her. _'Not much of a conversationalist, I see,"_ he thought. Then, he mentally slapped himself. _'She's what, six years old? Maybe seven? Were you expecting her to quote quantum theory or something?' _Keeping in mind the massive age difference between them, he tried again. "How did you wind up here all by yourself?"  
Finally, the little girl spoke. "I broke my bracelet." She held up her right arm, and her previous silence began to take on a whole new meaning. The "bracelet," was actually a small language translator. The plastic cover was cracked, and the screen was completely dark. It was clear the device was broken. It dawned on the man that while he could understand her words well enough. . .

_Oh, for the love of. . .This poor kid has no idea what I'm saying._ Now, he was at a loss. How was he supposed to help her if they couldn't communicate properly? Moving slowly, he activated his omni-tool, hoping it would help him find a solution. She jumped slightly as the orange hologram materialized around his arm."It's okay," he found himself saying, even though he knew the words were little more than gibberish to her ears. "It's just a little computer. I'm using it to look up stuff. See?" Kaidan moved his left arm toward the miniature asari, letting her take a closer look as he tapped at the keys.

He struck on an idea. He quickly changed the settings on his own translator so they would broadcast through the speakers on his omni-tool. "Let's try this again. Once more, without the 'oops'." A moment after the sentence ended, a strange, slightly lilting stream of sounds emitted from the device on his wrist.

Her eyes alighted with recognition, and she said with an air of certainty, "You talk funny." His face must have fallen at that, because he was rewarded with a giggle. He smiled slightly, relieved by her mirth, and got right back to business.

"So, how did you break your bracelet?"

After the translation finished, she eyed him sheepishly. "I ran into a tree."

This surprised him. "And how, exactly, did you manage to run into a tree?"

"I didn't see it."

In his head, he rolled his eyes. He couldn't blame the kid, though; her logic was pretty sound, for a six year old. However, that wasn't helping him get to the root of the problem at hand, which was. . .

"Where are you supposed to be right now?"

"School."

"And why aren't you at school?"

The little girl started to fidget and wouldn't look at him. Kaidan simply waited for her to answer. His patience wasn't endless, but it was pretty substantial, nonetheless.  
Finally, "I was playing near the water, but I wasn't 'posed to be."

_Playing near the water. . .she must mean the lake. _"Where was your teacher?"  
Her eyes filled with tears again. "I don't remember. And Miss Sussman's gonna be so mad at me. . ."

_Sounds like that's her teacher, most likely. _"I'm sure she won't be too mad, especially if we get you back to her real soon. Okay?"

There was a long pause, followed by a sniffle. Then, a nod. "Okay."

*/*/*/*/*

Officer Vakarian just really didn't have time for this shit.

It was bad enough the Council wouldn't even meet with him in regard to his current investigation. Correction: Hissupposedly_ closed_ investigation. Now he was being sent on a wild pyjack chase around the Presidium to deal with a lost child. This was **so** beneath his pay grade; he had to wonder whether the universe was punishing him for his apparent failure by drowning him in minutiae.

Let it go, they said. Ha. That was laughable. If they thought a direct order was all it took to get Garrus off this case, then they didn't know him very well at all. However, until he had a new lead, he was stuck with more mundane matters. Like this one unfolding before him, for example.

A call had come in from some Alliance soldier to the C-Sec switchboard not long ago stating that an asari toddler had been found unattended near the Financial District. Since Garrus was already in the area, not having trusted himself to go back to headquarters until he had his head on straight, guess who was supposed to handle it?

He sighed. Much as he hated to admit it, everything in regard to exposing the rogue Spectre now hinged on that human, Shepard. Garrus was only peripherally aware of the Alliance commander before this morning. Anyone who ever listened to the Galactic News Network knew about the Skyllian Blitz, but you could only learn so much about someone from a single mission report. Intrigued by all the. . .what was the human term? Hubbub? Yes, the hubbub over the man's arrival on Citadel Station had spurred the turian to find out more about this person that seemed so much larger than life to so many. To be honest, there hadn't been much outside his time with the military, save a 20-year-old news article about a church fire back on Earth, and he couldn't even be sure it was about the same person.

You could tell a lot about a man by the company he kept, though. While his interaction with the commander had been brief, his interactions with his human comrades had been even moreso. That woman, the Gunnery Chief, had barely looked at Garrus, let alone spoken to him. Having no other information, he assumed her behavior was based on the ever-present animosity between their two species, and left it at that. The lieutenant, though, had been quite blunt about their need to proceed to the Council chambers, acting as if Garrus was impeding their progress intentionally. It had rubbed the turian the wrong way, initially.  
Okay, he _had_ been impeding their progress, but to be fair, it had been for a good reason, and _they_ had walked up to _him_, not the other way around.

While the C-Sec officer wasn't sure what to make of the man's subordinates, the short exchange had spoken volumes about their commanding officer. While not overt, Shepard had sent a sidelong glance at his silent chief, which indicated her lack of comment was unusual and that it hadn't gone unnoticed. The fact he'd immediately cut the conversation short at the lieutenant's urging suggested that the commander held the other man's input in high regard.

Not that it really mattered in the grand scheme of things. Garrus was pretty sure he'd never see the trio again, but being an investigator wasn't something you could exactly switch off at will.

As he approached the back alleys near the Financial District, Officer Vakarian shoved all thought on that brief meeting aside to focus on the matter at hand. Ignoring the fact that this assignment was now filed under "random crap not related to Saren", he still had a job to do. Turning the corner that led to the back entrances of the bank and some other offices, he came upon a man in Alliance-issue armor speaking in low tones to a small blue child at his feet.

The armored man turned to face the detective, and in that moment, Garrus Vakarian no longer wondered if the universe was laughing at him. No, he was now _**certain**_ he was the butt of some cosmic joke, without a shadow of a doubt.

"Lieutenant Alenko," he said with no small amount of weariness. "How nice to see you again."

*/*/*/*/*

Janie Sussman was frantic. One of her students was missing, and it was all her fault.  
Not once in the four years she'd been working at the Presidium Conservatory had anything like this happened, to her or any other teacher. She'd always been so careful, but today she'd dropped her guard for no more than a few seconds. . .and now her entire world was falling apart.

The Keepers had shown up without warning (as was their way) earlier that day to perform maintenance on the carbon-dioxide scrubbers in that portion of the station. Such a disruption served to drive every one of the children in the very exclusive school to distraction, and the teachers had collectively come to the decision that a walking field trip was in order if anything resembling organization was to be maintained. It was mostly pretense, since nearly every child there had more than a passing familiarity with this area of the Citadel. Still, young children had boundless energy, no matter the species, and without focus that energy would soon turn into uncontrolled chaos. Best to cut it off at the pass, as the saying went.  
As they'd walked past the Financial District and made their way to the markets, in hopes the hustle and bustle of the shopping district would serve to keep their minds (and hands) occupied, an argument had erupted between two boys in her class. That was the only time that Janie's attention had been diverted, which had to be the exact moment that little Kayla Tevos chose to wander away from the group.

With her worry growing with every passing second, one thought ran through her mind, on endless loop:_ Kayla, sweetie. . .why, oh why did you run off?_


	2. Chapter 2 Hitch

**Hitch**  
_Why did I wait so long to check on the state of things? How could I have been so careless?_

It wasn't until they had reached the food court near Embassy Row that Ms. Sussman had taken another head count. When she'd come up one child short, her heart had skipped a beat. Twice more, she counted the children under her care, and twice more, one little blue face was missing from the group. Doing her best not to panic, Janie urged her administrative counterpart, Celindra Salameh, to organize an impromptu roll call. No one reported having an extra youngster, and her stomach dropped through the floor.

Thoughts racing, the redhead tamped down on the terror rising inside her. Panic wouldn't help her find Kayla. On the other hand, a missing child was a situation not to be taken lightly. The longer you waited to file a missing persons report, the less likely anyone, especially a child, would be found alive. That might seem a little histrionic to some, but facts were facts. Without further hesitation, Janie quickly shot off messages to her supervisor, her contact at C-Sec, and Kayla's grandmother outlining what had happened. Her career might end sooner than planned due to this mistake, but she couldn't care less. What mattered was that if anything happened to Kayla, she would never forgive herself.  
The young woman felt that way about all of her students, but she'd be lying if she said she didn't share a special bond with her youngest charge. Kayla had been transferred to her care as a last-ditch effort to keep the child under control. The girl was barely out of infancy by asari standards, so while she physically looked to be about seven years old, due to the longevity of her race she was just about three-quarters that in terms of mental development. A lot of teachers, even ones of the same species, weren't well versed at handling kids that young, and as a result had tried to "reach" Kayla using tactics better suited for older children.

It also didn't help that the girl seemed to be downright _terrified_ of members of her own species, a fact that was peculiar and remained inexplicable.

To anyone who wasn't Janie, anyway.

Ms. Sussman's specialty was working with "difficult" kids, so when the headmistress and her staff had thrown their collective hands up over what to do about the little handful, the redheaded teacher had personally requested she be transferred to her class. Janie had a gentler approach than most of her colleagues, and that seemed to be exactly what Kayla needed. They'd rapidly formed a close relationship, and the little girl had finally begun to settle down under the human woman's kind, but firm, tutelage.

Of course, that had done nothing to temper the child's mischievous streak. The current situation was testament to that. It had just never caused this big of a problem until now, and for the first time, Janie wished that Kayla was just a little less defiant.

Shaking herself, the teacher tried to think of places her student might have gone. The fact the asari child felt safest on the school grounds permeated the haze of fear that had settled across Janie's mind. Hoping Kayla would have returned to familiar ground, she made the decision to retrace their steps back to the Conservatory.

As she corralled her students back in the direction from whence they'd come, all Janie could do was hope that her instincts were right.

*/*/*/*/*

Of all the damn luck.

Garrus couldn't believe it. Not only was he responding to a call made by someone he hadn't expected to ever see again, but a very familiar blue bundle of trouble was involved. And she happened to be a diplomatic VIP.

Wonderful.

It wasn't that the officer necessarily disliked the lieutenant; after all, he really didn't know the man. And he wasn't one of those guys who hated children on principle, or anything like that. When it came to his job, how he felt about a person was almost directly proportional to how much paperwork they generated. Anything involving this diminutive asari was good for a week's worth of forms filled out in triplicate, which annoyed Garrus to no end. Unfortunately for the human, this made him a target of the turian's irritation, too. Guilt by association.

Once again cursing the karmic gods of comedy (as his human colleague Eddie Lang often put it), he went to work.

"Start from when I last saw you, Lieutenant, and work your way forward from there. Please."

*/*/*/*/*

"Let's go over it one more time, if you don't mind."

Lieutenant Alenko wasn't sure what he was expecting when he put in the call to Citadel Security concerning his current predicament, but he certainly hadn't expected to cross paths with Garrus Vakarian twice in less than six hours.

As he once again relayed the events of the afternoon to the officer standing in front of him, Kaidan glanced down toward his feet. He found it was hard to concentrate with a child hiding behind his knees. She'd retreated there as soon as the other man had arrived on the scene, which made the human sentinel more than a little suspicious. He wasn't sure how to broach the subject, though, so figuring out the connection between the detective and this frightened little girl would have to wait.

As requested, he started his story again.

*/*/*/*/*

The detective listened intently as Alenko explained to him, for the third time, what had transpired from the time he left Citadel Tower to the moment Garrus had shown up in the alleyway. Had this been about any other child, Garrus would have chalked things up to coincidence and left it at that. The fact that the youngling in question happened to be the member of a very prominent family changed _everything._

"So, let me make sure I have this right. You were on your way to Barla Von's office, and you heard someone crying?" Garrus had a hard time believing that, since he was pretty sure human hearing wasn't as good as that of his own species, and he wasn't certain he would have been able to hear anything out on the sidewalk. It was quieter here on the Presidium than if they'd been in the Wards, sure, but it still would have been pretty difficult. On the other hand, human body language was something he'd become pretty well versed in during his time at C-Sec, and he was willing to bet credits to kilaka fruit the human man was telling the truth.

The dark-eyed man answered tersely, "That's correct."

Garrus almost missed on the near-imperceptible change in tone. _He's growing impatient,_ the turian thought. _Might be able to use that to my advantage. _ "And why were you going to meet with him, exactly?"

The lieutenant seemed to mull the question over for a moment, and instantaneously, Garrus was livid. _I swear, if he says 'That's classified' I might just punch him in the face. . . _No sooner had the thought completed itself when the man said matter-of-factly, "Commander Shepard had it on good authority that this guy might be able to give us a lead on Saren."

The candidness of the answer stunned him. He was certain the human was going to stonewall him, just like everyone else had been lately. Alenko's body language indicated he had nothing to hide, which made Garrus feel a little guilty over his previous line of thought.

"Well, then," the officer said, stalling as he gathered his thoughts together. "Lucky for Councilor Tevos and her granddaughter that you have such good hearing." This bit of name-dropping was the last trick the turian had up his sleeve to see if he could trip the other man up. Not his favorite thing to do, resorting to deception, but in his line of work, you had to be as crafty as the suspects you were up against.

The human man's face went slack from shock. "Wait. . .are you saying she," Kaidan waved his hand in the direction of the little girl behind him, "is related to the Asari Councilor? As in, one of the most powerful women in all of Citadel space, who was standing ten feet away from me less than two hours ago?"

That solidified things: Lieutenant Alenko had no idea who, exactly, he'd been rescuing when he'd come across this wayward child, and that implied he had no ulterior motive in doing so. Garrus was both relieved and disappointed by the revelation. It wouldn't make the load of paperwork any lighter, but it would certainly mean fewer meetings with angry superiors and outraged politicians. _Oh, and one pissed off asari matriarch._

Coming back to the matter at hand, Officer Vakarian answered. "That's the way of it, yes." Looking down at the aforementioned Tevos heir, he continued, "Speaking of said matriarch, I need to inform her of what's happened and return her granddaughter to her as quickly as possible."

_*/*/*/*/*_

Kaidan nodded mutely, still mulling over the news that he'd stumbled into what could have been a diplomatic disaster. His mind only distantly registered that the detective was still talking. "And that means little Kayla and I need to take a walk down to headquarters."

"**NO!**"

The lieutenant came back to himself when he heard her shriek. The little girl, Kayla, had somehow managed to maneuver herself in such a way that she now had her arms wrapped around his legs, and her little face buried in his knees. As gently as he could, Kaidan extricated himself from her grasp and knelt down in front of her. "Hey," he said with concern. "What's the matter?"

Kayla looked at him, her blue eyes wide with terror, and said, "I don't want to go with him."  
"Why not?"

A single tear ran down her cheek as she exclaimed, "He's big and scary!" With that, she threw her arms around Kaidan's neck and whimpered into his chest, "Please don't make me go!"

Kaidan Alenko was a pretty tough guy, if he could say so himself. He'd survived biotic acclimation as a child, excelled during basic training with the Alliance, and was a formidable force on the battlefield. Yet, when it came to this tiny asari hugging his neck, he'd been reduced to a pushover.

He found himself hugging her back as he said, "Shhh, it's okay. If you really don't want to, I won't make you go."

*/*/*/*/*

Unbeknownst to the lieutenant, a very annoyed turian was now glaring daggers at him from two feet away. _So much for respecting my authority._


	3. Chapter 3 Oooh  Awkward

**Oooh. . .Awkward**

"Lieutenant? A word, if you please."

Garrus watched as the dark-haired man glanced at him and nodded. Then Alenko turned his attention back to the child in front of him. "I have to talk to Officer Vakarian for a minute. I need you to stay right here and wait while I do, okay?" Kayla nodded, rather reluctantly. As if he sensed her trepidation, the human looked concerned for a moment, then dug around in one of the pockets in his armor and pulled out a small, black and white striped object. It appeared to be a very odd-looking space cow, only with fewer appendages.

Holding it out to the little girl, he said, "Here. Can you take care of this little guy for me while you wait? He needs looking after, and I'm going to be too busy to watch him. . ." The lieutenant's voice trailed off as Kayla snatched the little animal from his hand and touched her nose to its snout.

The turian's eyes narrowed in confusion at the display, but he kept quiet until the man left the child to play with her new toy and walked over to talk to him.

"Yes, Detective?"

He paused, debating whether or not to ask the obvious question. He decided satisfying his own curiosity couldn't hurt. "Do you carry toys with you all the time, or is this a special occasion?"

It was the lieutenant's turn to look confused, the smile that had developed after seeing Kayla's response to the toy fading quickly. "Huh?" Then, understanding dawned on his face. "Oh! Right. That's not a toy. Not exactly. It's a stress-ball."

"Funny, it looks a lot like a space cow to me."

"Actually, it's a zebra, not a cow, and 'stress-ball' is something of a catch-all term. They're little lumps of latex humans use to relieve stress when we can't do anything else to deal with tension. Like during briefings and stuff where anything more overt would be inappropriate."

Given how most of his own species relieved stress while serving in the military, this left Garrus even more confused, and more than a little worried that the kid was now playing with this. . .zebra. "How the hell does something like that help you relieve stress? Wait. Never mind. I'm not sure I want to know."

Alenko gaped at the officer briefly before sputtering, "We squeeze them in our hands rapidly, and something about the motion helps humans get stress under control. Sometimes, anyway." Garrus' eyes widened at the mental image that brought up, and from the look on his face, it appeared the lieutenant realized his explanation didn't really help his argument any.

Silence descended on the alleyway, save for the delighted chatter of the little girl playing with the palm-sized zebra nearby. Amazingly, neither man cringed or looked away. They simply looked at each other in silence, and as irritated as he was, Officer Vakarian had to admit that Alenko's training and discipline was at least as good as his own. Lesser people would have. . .what was it called? Oh, right. Most people would have 'facepalmed,' with embarrassment at the awkward turn the conversation had taken.

Right then he decided that once this situation was over with, he was clocking out for the day, paperwork be damned. He _really_ needed drink.

The officer cleared his throat, and tried to remember what he had originally meant to say before they got to talking about. . .other things. A bubble of childish laughter reached his ears, and that was enough to get his thoughts back on track. "Anyway, that's not really important. What _is_ important is that you just superseded my authority, and I don't take kindly to that sort of thing."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me. You have no jurisdiction here, yet you just told that little girl that she didn't have to listen to me."

Alenko crossed his arms in front of his chest, a disgruntled look settling on his face. "Are you blind? The kid is _terrified_ of you. Which begs the question, why?"

"Why. . .what?"

"Why is a six-year-old afraid of you?"

It wasn't really any of Alenko's business, but Garrus had a feeling if he didn't answer the man, things were just going to get worse. He sighed. He wasn't particularly proud of the story he was about to tell, or his part in it. "There was an incident at her school several months back, and I was one of the responding officers. Another officer got into a heated discussion with one of her teachers and she," he jerked his head in the direction of the topic of their conversation, "apparently thought one or both of us was going to strike the woman. That little bundle of trouble fired up her biotics and was nanoseconds away from unleashing who knows what on us before that same teacher stopped her."

He scrubbed a hand across his face in frustration before he continued. "The other detective, Velarn, unloaded on the both of them about how assaulting an officer was a prosecutable offense, no matter the age of the assailant, and, well. . ." Garrus coughed a little. "He made her cry."

"Who?"

Again, Garrus jerked his head in Kayla's direction.

The human soldier stared at the turian in disbelief. "That doesn't make any sense. You weren't the one who yelled at her, so why would she be afraid of _you_?"

Garrus' mandibles fluttered slightly, from a combination of shame and anger. "Guilt by association, I guess. Big and scary is big and scary to someone that young. That, and I wasn't exactly quick to stop him, much as I wanted to."

"Why not?"

"Personal reasons." The answer sounded weak even to him, but Garrus wasn't about to share his misgivings about his former partner to someone he didn't know that well. He'd been pretty forthcoming with information so far, but he had to draw the line somewhere.

Alenko looked like he was about to say something else when the omni-tool on the turian's wrist beeped, indicating he had a new message.

'_Oh, great.'_ he thought. _'Now what?'_

*/*/*/*/*


	4. Chapter 4 Recompense

**Recompense**

Kaidan looked on as Vakarian checked his messages, mulling over the turian's explanation for Kayla's discomfort. While he sensed there was more to the story, he knew enough about turian body language to know that the detective was being straight with him. And that he probably wasn't going to get much more out of him on the matter. He wanted to press the issue, but before he could decide on a course of action, the officer was speaking again.

"That's an interesting development."

Not entirely sure if this was directed at him, Kaidan asked tentatively, "Something I should know about?"

"I just received a message from Saphyria."

"That secretary from Embassy Row?"

"One, and the same." Now, that certainly _was_ interesting.

After shutting down his omni-tool, Vakarian looked up at him. "It seems you get the last laugh, Lieutenant. So to speak. Councilor Tevos is on her way to the Conservatory to assess the situation personally."

Kaidan blinked. "Meaning. . .?"

"Meaning taking Kayla to C-Sec headquarters wouldn't accomplish much," Garrus answered, sounding almost weary. "Except to make her grandmother even angrier than she already is at being inconvenienced."

"Angry? You think she'd be relieved."

"Oh, she would be. . .if she knew her granddaughter had been found already."

"You didn't tell her?"

"All diplomatic messages get relayed through secretaries and personal assistants, with very few exceptions. Do you think even C-Sec has their personal contact information? It will take time for the message to filter back to her."

The lieutenant could sort of understand the reason for such protocol, but was astounded that family emergencies didn't rank high on the list of "exceptions." He was about to say as much before Garrus cut him off.

"It's irrelevant at this point, anyway. What matters is bringing this to a close before things get any worse."

The human glanced over to the corner of the alley where the source of all the. . .excitement sat, still playing with her newfound toy. "So, what's your plan? You know she won't go willingly." _Not alone, anyway. _He glanced back in time to see Garrus move to speak. Anticipating the question, Kaidan cut him off."And don't think for a minute of asking me to convince her to go with you, either. She's rattled enough as it is."

If turians could grind their teeth in frustration (which Kaidan honestly wasn't sure about), it looked like the officer was doing exactly that. "As I was about to say before you preempted me, I was going to ask that you accompany the both of us back to the school grounds. For whatever reason, Kayla seems to have latched onto you, so she won't fear being in my company if you're there. Plus, the Councilor will want to meet her grandchild's rescuer for herself. We accomplish twice as much with the minimum amount of effort."

"Two birds with one stone," Kaidan murmured under his breath.

Garrus raised an eyebrow ridge, looking rather perplexed as he did so. "Birds?"

Kaidan shook his head idly. "Nothing." He turned his attention back to the child in question as he contemplated the plan. He knew he had taken a lot of time out of his day for this little adventure as it was. He still hadn't managed to speak to Barla Von, and the day-cycle was fast coming to an end. The commander would most likely be disappointed with his lack of progress, but Shepard seemed to be a reasonable person. Once he explained the situation, Kaidan was sure the other man would understand his lack of results.

Kayla's musical little laugh filtered through his thoughts. He'd just have to find time to get to Barla Von afterward, because there was simply no way he could bring himself to abandon this little damsel in distress. Not seeing this through to the end just wasn't in him.

His own omni-tool buzzed, bringing him out of his reverie. Activating it, Kaidan saw that he had a message from Chief Williams. Opening the email, he quickly scanned the contents. She was apparently having trouble finding Harkin down in Chora's Den, and was "ten seconds away from cracking some skulls." He tried not to chuckle at the idea of Ashley raising a ruckus in a strip club. While quite fitting from what little he knew about her, it certainly wouldn't do for someone from the _Normandy_ to wind up in jail for instigating a bar brawl. Not with such an important mission ahead of them.

As he began typing out a reply telling the gunnery chief to sit tight while he handled another issue, Alenko frowned. Something was nagging at him about the message but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. All Ash was supposed to do was find this Harkin guy so she could ask him how to find. . .

His gaze slid from the orange interface surrounding his hand to the turian standing nearby.

To his credit, Kaidan managed not to smack his own forehead as the realization hit him. It should _not_ have taken him this long to figure this out. Apparently, this kid and her problems had gotten further under his skin than he first thought.

'_At least now I have a solution to my problem. I'll just swap assignments with Williams, since I found Vakarian anyway.' _Having settled on a course of action, he deleted the message he was working on and began anew. Several long seconds later, he hit 'Send' and shut down the device, satisfied with how he'd handled this newest curve ball. Then he looked over at Garrus and said, "It's as good a plan as any. Ready to go?"

"I've been ready to leave since I showed up here, if you want the-honest-to-spirits truth, Lieutenant," was the reply.

Kaidan bit back a shocked laugh. He knew from experience that turians could be a brutally honest bunch. He just wasn't expecting Garrus to be humorous. Surprisingly, he was actually starting to like the guy.

With that thought, he turned and walked over to Kayla. She was running the little not-space-cow across the top of a crate now, and the zebra's gallop slowed at his approach. He readjusted his translator settings as he walked to make sure they were still functioning correctly. When he reached her, he knelt on one knee in order to come down to her level once again. Smiling, he asked, "Having fun?"

She nodded at him, somewhat shyly.

"Good." He paused, trying to work out exactly what to say. He decided to lead with, "Are you ready to go back to school?"

Kayla seemed to eye him almost suspiciously. She started to shake her head to give him a negative answer, so he cut in with, "See, I need to walk over there, and I really don't want to walk alone."

Her blue eyes widened at this, and before he could go further she exclaimed, "I could walk with you!"

That was a more enthusiastic response than he could have ever hoped for. He slowly stood up as he said, "Really? Well, only if you want to."

She grinned up at him then, and Kaidan felt a small, almost imperceptible pull within his chest. Before he could examine the feeling, his little blue friend tugged on his right hand with her two much smaller ones and said, "Come on! Let's go!"

He chuckled, and had just enough presence of mind to grab the now-forgotten zebra from atop the crate before he was forcibly dragged from the alley by a forty-pound bundle of energy.

*/*/*/*/*

It was all Garrus could do to keep his mandibles from flying outwards in amazement. Never in a million years would he have thought it would be that easy to get Kayla Tevos to do as she was told. And the human man had made it look effortless.

He shook his head in bewilderment, wondering if there was truth to the adage that some people were just born to be parents as he strode quickly to catch up with the pair.

*/*/*/*/*

Kayla wasn't there.

Oh dear God, she wasn't there. And Ms. Sussman hadn't the first clue where else to look for her.

The panicked feeling she'd experienced earlier came back, multiplied by a million, and it took every bit of discipline she possessed not to collapse against the half-wall surrounding the playground for support. She'd been so certain that this was where the asari child would be, but now that she thought about it again, she realized it had been wishful thinking. Kayla was too young to have a good grasp on direction sense, and seeing as she'd received no word from Citadel Security, things were looking more and more grim by the second. A shaky hand found its way to the top of the wall of its own accord as worst-case scenarios flooded her mind.

Anything could be happening right now. Kayla could be injured, with no one to look after her. Or stuck in a vent somewhere. You heard about children dying in the air ducts all the time. Not necessarily here on the Presidium, but there was a first time for everything. And oh, God, what if some crook had grabbed her off the. . .

'_Damn it, Janie,' _the more rational part of herself snapped, cutting through her internal ramblings._ 'Pull yourself together! You __**will**__ find Kayla, and you __**will**__ get through this. You just have to __**think**__!'_

As if she'd been doused with a bucket of ice water, the redheaded teacher pushed away from the wall, chin snapping up and spine straightening as she did so. Contemplating what-ifs would do her no good. Action was the only thing that would.

Janie shook her head almost violently as she tried to clear it. She needed a plan. So far, she'd informed everyone who needed to know about the situation, and retraced her steps in hopes of finding her missing student. C-Sec should have sent someone down already, but it appeared the fact that they were short on personnel was showing itself. In two hours, she'd yet to see a single officer. She could put in another call and hope they'd finally send someone, but so much time had passed already. Standing around wringing her hands just wasn't an option.

Well, if C-Sec wouldn't come to Janie, Janie would just have to go to them. Her career as an educator was probably over anyhow; leaving school grounds to help coordinate the search directly couldn't possibly make things any worse than they already were. But first, she had to make sure the rest of her students were taken care of.

With that in mind, her hazel eyes scanned the far edge of schoolyard until they found the indigo-skinned asari she sought. Her strides strong, and heavy with purpose, Ms. Sussman fairly stalked across the playground until she reached the other side.

"Celindra."

The asari turned from the conversation she'd been having with two other teachers to face the redhead who'd addressed her. "Any sign of her?"

"Not along the exterior pedways, the playground, or the gardens. Have they started searching the classrooms yet? Or the maintenance areas?"

Her colleague frowned slightly. "We weren't sure if that was the best course of action. Wouldn't it be more likely that she'd be outside of the school grounds, given the circumstances?"

"Yes, but I want the school searched anyway. Kayla's been known to hide in the most unlikely of places. I want those places checked."

Celindra's brow furrowed, and she looked as if she was about to protest. The redhead tried to keep her irritation in check. Was she the only one who thought outside the normal parameters these days? "Look," Janie said as calmly as she could. "I know there's protocol to be followed, here, but the longer we do nothing, the more likely something horrible will happen."

The asari maiden folder her arms across her chest, and Janie could tell she was physically resisting the urge to chew her bottom lip in uncertainty. "Lindy, I can't be in two places at once, and I'll go crazy standing around biding my time much longer." Janie hoped the use of her nickname for the woman would help get her feelings across as she pleaded with her. "Please?"

Celindra sighed. Unfolding her arms, she finally relented. "What do you want me to do?"

Janie mentally sighed with relief. "Have the administrative staff begin searching the main building, starting with the foyer and working their way back toward the back entrance." She began walking toward the side gate to the playground, motioning for Celindra to follow her. "Concentrate on areas that look inaccessible. Lockers, cabinets, vents, high shelves in closets. Things like that. If you haven't found her by the time you reach the back of the building, someone from C-Sec should be here by then to coordinate the rest of the search." _Since I very well might wind up in jail for negligence_, she thought morbidly.

"What are you going to do?"

"I'm going down to C-Sec to see if I can expedite things. Would you please look after my class while I'm gone? No one knows them as well as you do." They reached the gate by then, and both women stopped, facing each other.

"If you think that's best," Celindra replied, somewhat reluctantly.

"I do. Thank you, Lindy." Janie squeezed her friend's shoulder once in thanks before she turned to leave. Just has her hand had reached the latch, a slender purple hand shot out to stop its progress. Hazel eyes met blue with a questioning look as the asari spoke.

"Janie," Celindra began somberly. "This wasn't your fault. People lose track of children all the time. These things just. . .happen."

Sorrow was evident in Janie's eyes as she said "Not here, they don't."

Before her friend could say anything more, something beyond the schoolyard gate caught the redhead's attention. As she turned her head in the direction of the distraction, Janie's heart stopped.

Several yards down the pedway leading away from the school came three figures. One was a human, another a turian.

And the shortest of the three was a blue child in a black dress.

All pretense at decorum went straight out the airlock as Ms. Sussman began running down the walkway.

*/*/*/*/*

**A/N:** As always, reviews and constructive criticism are both welcome. Many thanks to all my readers, as you make this writing thing worthwhile.

Special mention goes to Kiwibliss and MitisVenatrix for their wonderful beta skills, and to Katerina Kintari for assisting me with lore research. Couldn't do this without you, ladies.

**Standard Disclaimer:** I own nothing, save my own insane way of looking at things. Oh, and Celindra, Kayla, and Janie, as they are of my own creation. Please don't sue me, as I'm just a counter jockey at GameStop, which means I have no money. All hail BioWare.


	5. Chapter 5 Semblance

**Semblance**

Even in the big, bright, beautiful tomorrow that we call 'the future', there is gridlock. Road rage, sadly, is not a thing of the past; it has merely taken to the sky, along with the latest and greatest methods of aerial transportation. With episodes of road rage come accidents and delays, which often result in, yes, more road rage, and the viciously annoying cycle begins all over again.

It was this knowledge that brought both Kaidan and Garrus to the conclusion that, while on the surface, heading to a rapid transit depot seemed the fastest way to make it to their destination, in reality, it was not. Nor would it help for Garrus to call in a car from Citadel Security. In the time it took for the driver to deliver the vehicle to their location, they could walk the nearly two kilometers to the Conservatory and back again three times.

As it was, this is how the two armed and armored males came to be strolling rather silently along a pedway in the Presidium, with a small blue child in tow. Even the little girl was quiet, her initial excitement over embarking on this "adventure" having waned after the first quarter kilometer.

The silence stretched for another five minutes or so before the turian spoke. "So, Lieutenant. . .how did things go with the Council this morning?" Vakarian's tone was all boredom and nonchalance, but Kaidan was certain it was forced. He'd been using the rather welcome (on his part, anyway) silence to go through what little he knew of the C-Sec detective, and it had occurred to him the other man had to be extremely curious about the goings-on inside the audience chambers earlier that day. _I certainly would be if our roles were reversed._

Even so, as forthcoming as the lieutenant had been with information until then, the mission and all that related to it was classified, technically speaking. Legally, the lieutenant didn't _have_ to answer the question. On the other hand, Vakarian had been investigating Saren Arterius longer than anyone on the _Normandy_ (save Captain Anderson and the now-deceased Nihlus Kyrik) had even known of the Spectre's existence. It was the main motivation behind Commander Shepard's decision to seek out the turian, to find out what he knew of Saren's comings and goings.

Pissing him off would probably make him less inclined to be helpful, no matter if their goals were similar. As such, the biotic concluded it was best to tread carefully, but ultimately give the detective at least a little truthful information.

"Honestly? It could have gone better. The Council doesn't believe any of the evidence we presented is indicative of anything of importance. They say it's pure conjecture, since we've got nothing but shaky eye-witness accounts to back up our claims." Kaidan paused to watch his companion's reaction. As he suspected it would, Garrus' expression went from one of cool detachment to barely-contained disgust in no time flat. "The commander had hoped that our testimony," he went on, "combined with the evidence you presented, would be enough to at least make them bring Saren in for questioning."

"No such luck, I guess?"

"Unfortunately, no."

It appeared the detective was about to say more, but he was interrupted by a wholly unexpected inquiry from the child in their company.

"Who's Saren?" The girl had been so quiet that Kaidan had all but forgotten she was there, and from the look on the turian's face, it appeared Garrus had, as well.

The sentinel opened his mouth to answer the child, but found he was at a loss for words. To be frank, his skills at dealing with children were somewhat rusty from lack of use. He hadn't been back to Earth to visit his family in years, and as such hadn't seen any of his nieces and nephews in quite some time. It was a miracle that he'd managed so well thus far with the miniature asari he'd met not two hours before, but now it seemed his luck was running out.

To Kaidan's surprise, in the moments it had taken him to realize he had no idea what to say, Officer Vakarian had paused barely a second before issuing his own answer. "Saren's a very bad turian who has hurt a lot of people."

Kaidan held his breath, and waited for the inevitable tide of tears that seemed to accompany every interaction Kayla had had with the security officer since this whole escapade began.

Oddly enough, the tears never came. Kayla's face became a study in concentration, her small features drawn tight in contemplation. After what seemed like hours, but was only about a minute, she surprised the human yet again by looking directly at Garrus to ask another question. "Aren't bad people 'sposed to be punished?"

The turian seemed taken aback, much as Kaidan was, not so much by Kayla's question as by the fact she was asking _him_, rather than having the lieutenant run interference. It quickly faded, seemingly deciding that progress was progress. "Yes, they are. And we're trying very hard to find him so he _can_ be punished."

She mulled this over for several more moments while they continued their walk, and just as the lieutenant had begun to think the conversation was over and done with, Kayla nodded her little head emphatically and said, "Good."

Silence reigned once again as the trio made their way through the crowds in the food court and into the less-crowded Academic District. Unlike before, the lapse in conversation seemed far less strained. Kaidan wouldn't have gone so far as to call it comfortable, but it definitely wasn't awkward.

Well, not by comparison to earlier events, at any rate.

Before long, the detective broke the silence yet again to continue their previous exchange. "Does your commander have a plan of action to deal with this. . .setback?" The way in which the turian said the last word practically broadcasted just what he thought of this "setback," and while he understood that protocol existed for a reason, Kaidan couldn't blame him for feeling that the Council was being unnecessarily difficult on the matter.

Before Kaidan could answer the officer, though, his steps faltered as Kayla tried to jump down from her position on his hip. Earlier during their journey, it was discovered the child's legs simply couldn't keep up with the longer, adult-sized strides of her two "rescuers." Rather than stop to debate the issue, Kaidan had taken it upon himself to scoop the girl off the ground and carry her for the remainder of the trip. She'd been positively delighted by this turn of events, as this new vantage point allowed her to "see what big people see."

Now, it seemed, something she saw had grabbed her attention, as Kayla was squirming like a nervous hanar, straining to free herself from the lieutenant's grasp.

"Whoa, hang on, kiddo! What the heck are you-," He stopped, mid-sentence, as he glanced up from his wiggling burden to see a human woman sprinting down the walkway in their direction.

Instinctively, the soldier tightened his grip on the child in his arms and began pulling up his biotic barrier to protect them both when Garrus intervened.

"Uh, Lieutenant Alenko? I'm not an expert in human customs, but I'd bet my whole paycheck attacking an unarmed schoolteacher who is trying to collect her student is considered inappropriate."

The human man blinked, trying to wrap his mind around what the turian had just said. He took a closer look at the redhead pounding down the pedway and realized the clothing she wore bore the same logo embroidered on Kayla's right shoulder. Belatedly, he also noticed she was not, as Garrus had pointed out, carrying a weapon.

"Do you know her?"

"You could say that," stated the turian. The lieutenant gave him a look that said he clearly wasn't satisfied by the other man's reply, and if you asked him later, he would swear the detective was laughing at him as he continued.

"That," Officer Vakarian announced, inclining his head in the woman's direction, "is Janie Sussman. And believe me when I say that she'd definitely take offense to you throwing anything stronger than a frown in her direction."

Sussman. Where had he. . .

_"Where was your teacher?"_

_Her eyes filled with tears again. "I don't remember. And Miss Sussman's gonna be so mad at me. . ."_

Kaidan stifled a groan. _ Nearly take out a civilian because your hackles are up. Great way to make a first impression there, Alenko._

With a shake of his head, he dropped the barrier, and set the small asari on the ground. As soon as she was on her own two feet, Kayla took off running toward the woman at the other end of the walkway.

*/*/*/*/*

_Oh, thank you, God, Jesus, Mary, Joseph. . . _This litany of Biblical figures continued as Janie mentally named off all twelve apostles, several saints, and a few archangels in silent, profuse gratitude for bringing back the wayward child who brought her no end of both irritation and joy.

As she neared the trio in the middle of the pedway, klaxons began blaring in her head as she felt the hairs on her arms stand on end. It was a response she knew well, and it set her teeth on edge: Someone was firing up biotics.

It didn't take long to figure out who, as Janie saw the human man holding her young charge on his hip envelope the both of them in the tell-tale corona of indigo-blue. _What the fu-_

Without conscious thought, the redhead started picking out details, noting them for use in the near future, if need be. _Male, six-feet tall, lightweight armor, possibly right-handed. . ._

Then her gaze shifted to the left, and her train of thought went into a new direction. From this distance, it was tough to tell, but the turian looked familiar. _Very_ familiar. If nothing else, the blue-on-black Citadel Security armor gave her enough pause to tamp down her own biotic response.

The turian was saying something to his comrade, and whatever it was must have given the other human pause, as well, as the crackling field disappeared almost as suddenly as it had materialized. He looked from the turian to Janie and back again, then stopped walking just long enough to place the little girl on the ground.

That was the end of Janie's mental cataloging, as her entire focus narrowed to the child running toward her, and nothing else. The distance was quickly eaten up by the teacher's longer strides, and in both an eternity and the blink of an eye, she had snatched the child off the ground.

"Janie!"

The woman looped one arm around the little girl's waist to support her weight, while the other went to the back of her head, stroking the stubby little fronds there with loving care as Kayla buried her face in her shoulder. She should have scolded the girl for using her first name in public, rather than her surname, but for the life of her, Janie couldn't bring herself to do it. She was just too damn glad to have her back, safe and sound, to give a damn about protocol.

Instead, she hugged the girl tighter, which served three purposes: One, to reassure the child she was safe; two, to reassure _herself_ that Kayla was really back; and three, to allow her to check for injuries with a certain amount of discretion. Thankfully, she found no broken bones or lacerations, and she felt nothing amiss with her head. (Well, physically speaking.)

She did, however, notice the trashed state of the translator on Kayla's wrist, and had to supress a sigh. The child was constantly breaking _something_, so much so that Janie's desk had a drawer dedicated to duplicates of essential items, like cheap, wrist-mounted translators. Absently, she pushed a button on her own omni-tool to activate the external speakers.

As she did so, relief gave way to irritation. She'd been worried to the point of despair, which was a feeling far too close to fear for the redhead's liking. Janie _loathed_ being afraid, and as such, her mind latched onto the somewhat more appealing (though rather negative) emotion in hopes of leaving fear in another star system.

"Kayla Tevos, where have you _been_?" The words were out of her mouth before she could stop herself, and the sudden, harsh exclamation sent the child into a crying fit. Her blue, tear-stained face came back into view as she lifted her head and launched into her story, the words interspersed with sobs.

"I was walking next to Dora (sniffle), like I was 'sposed to, and she said (inhale), 'My big sister said there's fish in the lake,' and I said (sniff), 'Nu-uhn,' and she said, 'Uh-huh,' and (hiccup) I said, 'Nu-uhn and I'll show you!', so I climbeded over the rail (cough) and went down to the water, and looked for fish, but there weren't any, (whimper) so I walked a little bit more, and looked again (sob), but there still weren't any, and I was gonna tell Dora her sister was a dummy, and. . .(wail) and everybody was gone!"

Her wails were muffled as she once again dropped her head to Janie's shoulder, though she had one more thing to say before her sobbing got out of control again: "Please don't hate me."

The redhead sighed. There was no consoling the girl when she got like this, and it usually took hours to reassure Kayla that nothing she could do would ever make Janie hate her. She was resigning herself to spending the rest of the afternoon in an exhausting round of reassurances when a voice she didn't recognize joined the conversation.

"No one hates you, kiddo. Though I think your little buddy might be upset that you left him behind." Janie looked up to see that the man in black armor was an arm's length away from the two of them, and in his outstretched palm was. . .a zebra?

She tried to keep the bewildered look from her face as Kayla's demeanor pulled a complete one-eighty. Tears were suddenly replaced by a smile, and a clutching hug turned to strained reaching as she grabbed the little horse-like creature from the man's hand.

She wasn't sure she succeeded in looking unphased, though, as the now-recognizable turian strolled up to join them then, and remarked, "I know. I don't get it, either."

*/*/*/*/*

For some reason, it was extremely difficult to watch as the small asari bounded away from him. He'd barely known the kid three hours, and already, there was separation anxiety. The lieutenant wondered if this was something every asari inspired in people, or just the little ones. Or, more specifically, this little one in particular.

Then again, it didn't feel all that different from when he'd said goodbye to the pack of children at the last family reunion, called away early for an assignment that required his technical expertise. He'd hated to disappoint them all, but when duty called, it was a summons he never regretted answering, career man that he was.

What he did regret was breaking the promise he'd thrown to his nieces and nephews that day as he tossed his duffel into the back of the transport: _I'll be back before you know it. _

Four years later, he still hadn't found the time to go home again. That really needed to change.

His attention was drawn back to the present as his boot landed upon something squishy. The dark-haired man pulled his foot away, only to roll his eyes and smile. In her haste to return where she belonged, Kayla had dropped the zebra, who now looked up at his former owner rather forlornly from the ground. He bent down and picked it up, then did his best to dust the tread marks from his striped "hide."

_How's that for universal: Every kid leaves her toys on the floor, no matter the species._

Chuckling to himself, he approached the two females, one young, the other. . .not as young, and presented the lost toy to the smaller of the two.

A look of shock that quickly turned to suspicion crossed the red-haired woman's face. Her eyes narrowed in his direction for a fraction of a second as the child in her arms took the lost toy from his hand, before they shifted away from him and onto the detective at his side. She recovered quickly, and a calm (though tremulous) smile pulled at her lips as she said, "Detective Vakarian. Good to see you, as always."

Kaidan looked at the turian, who simply nodded and replied, "Likewise, though the circumstances could be better."

He couldn't put his finger on it, but there was something. . .odd about the way they spoke to one another. Each of them was polite, but in a cautious way, and they held themselves as far away from each other as possible without visibly leaning away.

Not at all like two people who were as well-acquainted as Garrus' previous statements had inferred.

_There's something going on, here._

His contemplation was interrupted by Garrus' next question, in a tone he'd come to recognize as 'interrogative.' "Ms. Sussman, can you tell me how Kayla came to be in the Financial District? Alone?"

She opened her mouth to respond, but whatever she'd been about to say was cut off by yet another voice, one that was vaguely familiar to the lieutenant, from behind them. "I'd like to hear the answer to that, myself."

From the look on both of their faces, the detective and the teacher knew the owner of that voice quite well, and if their expressions were anything to go by, not for altogether pleasant reasons.

The expressions disappeared in tandem as both the human woman and the turian officer turned to face the newcomer and spoke over one another.

"Adara."

"Councilor Tevos."

Silence descended on the pedway as both Vakarian and Sussman glanced at each other in annoyance, then clamped their respective mouths shut and looked at the asari in the red and white dress who stood before them, flanked on either side by a pair of black-clad asari commandos.

The prescence of the armed escort (and the councilor herself), while noteworthy, wasn't what had the dark-eyed man's attention right then. His focus was split between the teacher and the cop.

Vakarian had addressed the Asari Councilor by her honorific; the redhead had used her first name. Something about the way each of them handled that had vexed the other, and they'd made their distaste known to anyone who was paying attention.

All of that was drowned out, however, by the lack of a very expected sound: Kayla had yet to say anything upon seeing her grandmother. Instead, she seemed to have curled in upon herself, and while he may have imagined it, he could swear that he saw the child's hands tighten around the collar of the human woman's uniform.

_Yep. _Definitely _something going on. _

*/*/*/*/*

Garrus was tapping out more case notes on his omnitool as both humans relayed their version of the day's events to the Councilor, and couldn't help but sigh when he noticed a lone purple figure in a black and green Conservatory uniform make her way to the group outside the school's front gates.

_Oh, great. Sussman's shadow hasn't disappeared, after all._

He didn't have a history with Celindra Salimeh. Not in the conventional sense, anyway. They didn't run in the same social circles, she didn't have a criminal record, and their respective professions didn't overlap. Their only connection was through the redhead currently standing between them, and that didn't really help matters.

For the longest time, he'd thought Janie Sussman to be the asari's bondmate. Wherever you saw one, the other wasn't too far behind, and the indigo-skinned woman had a protective streak in regard to the human that was at least a kilometer wide. Even knowing that the asari in question was still rather young to be in a committed relationship of that caliber hadn't stopped him from coming to that conclusion. It was a reasonable assumption to make, given the circumstances.

That did not, however, diminish his embarrassment when Celindra had, in no uncertain terms, told him where he could stick his 'assumptions.' The incident in Flux was still the topic of conversation in the break room at the Academy from time to time, and it really bloated his gizzard to think about it, even now.

Which was why Garrus avoided her at almost any cost.

_Stow it, Vakarian. You're a professional; act like one._

He kept his expression neutral as Celindra stopped a foot or so away from him, and listened to the conversation for a moment before interjecting.

"With respect, Councilor, I feel that we may be drawing some undue attention by having this conversation outside the school grounds." Her voice was inert, her expression detached, but the look in her eyes was one of determination. "Might I suggest we take this discussion into the headmistress' office?"

Councilor Tevos looked at the newcomer with open disdain, but covered it so quickly with her usual composure that Garrus was nearly sure he'd been mistaken. Even when faced with fire and rage from petitioners in the Council Chamber, he'd never seen her lose her cool.

Then again, if anyone could cause the normally stoic matriarch to spit red-hot rivets, it was her granddaughter.

"If moving this meeting to a less conspicuous location will move the proceedings along at a faster rate, then by all means. Lead the way." With her honor guard in tow (which the turian surmised was more for show than anything else), she set off for the entrance without a backward glance.

Celindra then turned to the redhead, but said nothing. She simply quirked a carefully-penciled eyebrow at her in silent inquiry.

"I'll be along in a moment."

The maiden moved to voice a protest, but looked as if she thought better of it. Without looking at either of the two males, she gave the human woman a pointed look, then turned on her heel and practically marched away.

Finally, Janie spoke.

"Thank you, Lieutenant, for your help today. Yours as well, Detective. I'll be in touch with your office to arrange a time for me to fill out the rest of the paperwork." Before either man could answer, the woman hiked Kayla up higher onto her hip, and followed the rest of the group.

As he watched them leave, Garrus sighed for what was probably the thousandth time that cycle. There was no getting around it; the time had come to deal with his least-favorite part of his job. He turned to the Alliance biotic, and suddenly, and his mood got just the slightest bit brighter.

This time, there was someone he could dump the bulk of the misery onto.

"So, Lieutenant. Care to accompany me to my office, so you can fill out a report about the shortest missing-persons case in the history of the Citadel?"

*/*/*/*/*

From far across the playground, pale blue eyes narrowed in suspicion at the human male walking away with the turian officer. She hadn't even interacted with the man, and already, Celindra disliked him. He was going to be trouble. Her icy gaze slid to the redhead at her side, who kept sneaking glances of her own toward the dark-haired man in question.

Yes. _Definitely _trouble.

The maiden pushed that line of thought away as she escorted her friend and her young student toward the headmistress' office. She could worry about such things later; right now, she had a debriefing to deal with, and a threat assessment to run.

*/*/*/*/*

Commander John Shepard was seated at his desk reading his messages when the subject line of one email in particular caught his eye. It read, "The Adventures of Sparky and June-Bug."

Opening it, he scanned the contents, and smiled. Closing it again, he opened up a video comm channel in another window and typed in a number he used not nearly often enough for his liking. After letting it ring for what felt like forever, she finally answered.

"Funny. I was just thinking of you," she said, a sly smile creeping across her face.

"That's what all the pretty girls say," he answered back.

Smile turning into a sarcastic smirk, she replied, "Nice to see life has kept you humble."

Feigning a wounded look, he said, "You know, it wouldn't kill you to stroke my ego once in a while."

"Why? You do enough of that for the both of us," she shot back, smirk still firmly in place.

Chuckling, the commander held his hands up in mock surrender. "Okay, okay! You win! I can't out class you in the smart-ass department today."

"Too bad you didn't realize that when I picked up; would have saved us one whole minute."

Rolling his eyes, John looked at the women on the screen, and smiled knowingly. "I guess we'll cut right to the chase then: What do you want?"

It was her turn to feign looking hurt. "Why, whatever do you mean? Did it ever occur to you I might just be missing you?"

Smug, he replied matter-of-factly, "If that were the case, you'd have used a different code in that email."

""Damn!" The young woman muttered, a look of contrived sheepishness replacing her smirk. "I guess you caught me. I need a favor."

"Oh, there's a shocker."

"Johnny. . ." she began, her exasperation clear.

The commander shook his head and chuckled. These calls were so few and far between that he didn't want to waste time fighting with her. As such, he quit antagonizing her, if only for the moment, and said, "Fine, fine. What kind of favor?"

"Just a teensy little file. . ."

"Name it."

"I need everything you've got on a Staff Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko."

For the first time in several minutes, Commander Shepard fell silent. _What could you possibly need that for? _It wasn't until he heard her speaking again that he realized he'd uttered those words aloud.

"Oh, nothing major. He witnessed something on the Presidium today involving a VIP. The muckety-mucks want to know what he's all about, that's all." She shrugged one shoulder, and looked somewhere that _wasn't_ at the screen. Her face held a look of long-practiced boredom, but he knew better; there was more to this than she was letting on.

As if sensing his hesitation, she returned her gaze to his (though he knew that was physically impossible, since she wasn't actually sitting across from him) and continued. "I'm just trying to be thorough. Wouldn't want a diplomatic dust-up over something trivial, now, would we?"

John chewed on the inside of his right cheek, thoughts racing. She couldn't possibly know that the lieutenant was assigned to his command; she'd have come out and said so if she did. It wasn't common practice for him to dish out information like this, but if she was asking him outright, she had to have a damn good reason. She'd never screwed him over before, and he doubted she'd start now. Not after everything they'd been through together.

Besides, he could use this to his advantage, and they'd both get something they needed. Coming to a decision, he replied, "Okay, I'll give you what I've got. But it's going to cost you."

"Name your terms."

"I need information on Garrus Vakarian."

The hazel-eyed woman froze for a fraction of a second before asking, "Not that I would ever question your motives, but what do you want with that guy? He's a C-Sec detective."John watched as her eyelids twitched ever so slightly, which meant she was fighting hard to keep a neutral look on her face. Her tone was both cautious and nonchalant; a combination that shouldn't have made sense, but oddly enough, it surprised him little. She'd always been a complicated person, constantly conflicted over how her ideals clashed with reality.

He knew this because it was a character trait they shared.

Obviously, this hadn't changed, and he couldn't decide if that was a blessing or a curse.

"He's working on a case that may run concurrent to a mission I'm on, and I could use all the help I can get." '_Trust me'_, was the part of that statement that went unspoken, as it always did between them.

She visibly relaxed a little at that. He didn't know much about her line of work (as he was understanding enough not to ask, and she was stubborn enough not to tell him), but he knew it involved moving a lot of information. That type of currency carried a great deal of weight. The right piece of intel could make or break a mission. . .or a person. Without ever asking, he knew she agonized over every choice, every deal, every statement, and the results that would follow.

After all, it's what he would do.

"All right. I accept your terms, and I'll get you whatever I can as soon as possible. 48 hours enough time?"

"Less would be better, but I'll take what I can get."

"Done."

"Good." John leaned back in his chair and folded his hands behind his head. "Now, have you got a second to talk about stuff not related to work?"

She gave him a big, genuine smile. "For you? Always."

They talked for several minutes about nothing in particular. He rambled on about his new crew, careful not to reveal anything classified. She chattered excitedly about her new apartment, carefully avoiding the subject of why she'd had to move in the first place. Before long, though, it was time to hang up.

Ever the practical one, she took the lead. She knew this was always the toughest part for him, saying goodbye, and he appreciated that she always tried to make it easier on him. "I miss you, Sparky. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, I know, June-Bug. I miss you, too."

"You'd miss me less if you called more often," she mused with barely-concealed mirth.

"I'd call more often if I thought you'd be there to answer the damn comm.," John shot back good naturedly.

She let out a completely manufactured long-suffering sigh. "Well, since I'm so unreliable with such things, how about I email you next week, instead?"

"I'll hold you to that."

"I'd expect nothing less." Her expression changed to one of quiet affection as she said, "Be careful out there."

"You, too," was all he said by way of reply.

She smiled, and he could swear she looked him directly in the eyes just before the screen went black.

*/*/*/*/*

Jane Shepard looked down at the Conservatory employee ID card laying next to her right hand, her own visage smiling back, and the name 'Janie Sussman' stamped beneath it in bold script. Her finger slid from the disconnect button on her communications console as she reached for the rectangular piece of plastic. Wishing she'd had more time to talk with her brother, she sighed heavily, and stood up from her desk. She had information to gather, and a threat assessment to conduct.

She sighed again. "Well. . .back to work."

**A/N:** So, long time, no see. :)

I've got little to say on this update, except that y'all best get on your knees and kiss the feet of Moranth, aka Meekzu, for being my emergency backup beta. Without her, this chapter would still be in writer's limbo. ;) (Or you could go read her really great stuff, and drop her a review. She'd really like that. :D)


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